PRINCE OF TENNIS: MARY SUE GUIDE
by Rainbowlalaland
Summary: A basic guide on how to avoid making a Mary Sue...or to make a Mary Sue Parody xP Made specifically for Prince of Tennis. Credit goes to Cursed Bunny for letting me use her guide as a draft for this one...Enojy!


I made this for everybody who wanted to know if their OC was a Sue or not.

Credits: Cursed Bunny (Who let me use her fantastic Mary Sue guide to write this draft here)

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><p><strong>Note: This was made with Prince of Tennis specifically in mind.<strong>

**Ps Note: This is not based off facts but purely opinions from myself and anyone who sends theirs in. **

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><p><em>Definition of a Mary Sue (from Cursed Bunny): A clichéd being that is often too perfect and unrealistic. Because of this, they may cause other characters go out of character.<em>

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><p><strong>Traits of a Mary Sue and How to Prevent Them:<strong>

**1. **She is as good or better than the Cannon Tennis players while at the same is great in anything else she does (ex. A female Ryoma.) She doesn't have any weaknesses (ex. troubles with stamina like Eiji, worries to much like Ooishi, trouble with controlling the ball like Momo.) If she can beat Tezuka without breaking a sweat then you might as well outline her name in a big neon sign saying "MARY SUE ALERT!"

**Fix:** Give her weaknesses, but don't make her a carbon copy of one of the Cannon characters. Maybe she's a great Tennis player but only on the court, if she's not on it then she can barley walk in a straight line without tripping over something or spilling her food on someone. Give her a flaw or two here and there, make her a believable character in the PoT world.

**2. **She's gorgeous! More than half of each chapter is focusing on how stunningly beautiful she is. She doesn't try for her appearance and just wakes up with those luscious curls that are never a hair out of place. Two or more Cannon characters fall in love with her at fist sight and therefore go out of character to impress her and gain her love but somehow she is oblivious to all there attempts (even the ones where they blatantly declare their love for her.) She has the perfect curves and the face of an angel, sometimes people swear they can see wings. Do try and remember that characters like Oishi are shy, don't warp the Cannon Characters to fit your OC!

**Fix:** Even if she is gorgeous don't repeat it in ever chapter that just gets annoying. Keep her pursuers to a minimum and try to keep them in character. Try to remember that the characters range from 12 – 15 years old. (First years – 12-13, Second years – 13-14, Third years – 14-15) They don't have perfect curves nor are they described as "sexy."

**3.** She's too nice, too mean, too sympathetic, too honest, too compassionate, too depressed, too shy…remember too much of anything can be a bad thing.

**Fix:** Don't make her be too much of ONE thing. Give her a personality that readers will enjoy reading about…say you want her to be really nice, a downside to that is that in real life just because you're really nice does not mean people are going to be nice back, they tend to take advantage of that kindness. If you want her to be extremely hyper? …Well she just gets annoying.

**4. **She has magic.

**Fix:** This is a Prince of Tennis Fan fiction! Not Harry Potter. Keep her physical restrictions to that of the Prince of Tennis world.

**5.** Other characters become OOC because of her, she makes Tezuka smile, Ryoma romantic, Fuji mean, Momo give up food…wait no, I don't think that would ever happen but you get my point right?

**Fix:** If you're not going to try and keep the characters in CHARACTER then you shouldn't be writing fanfiction but instead a novel where you make up the character and you have no boundaries.

**6.** Everybody hates her or everybody loves her. Nobody is loved by everybody.

**Fix:** Not many people like to read about a depressed character that doesn't do anything but mope along all day…and on that note, not many people like to ready about a characters who is doted on all day.

**7.** If you're starting your fic in the beginning of the series, you OC cannot do moves that the Cannon characters themselves have yet to come up with. Like say you start off with a match between an unimportant character but they push you to bring out one of your ultra extra special moves "The Boomerang Snake!" That is supposed to be a move that Viper comes up with himself in a tough spot, and that's what made that move so cool, but if your OC can do all the Cannon characters special moves that they themselves haven't come up with yet then you should watch out cause you're going down the Sue highway.

**Fix:** Make up your own moves for you character to give her so she isn't stealing all the other characters moves. And thanks to xDevilishAngelx for reviewing and recommended that not only should people refrain from having their OC copy all the Cannon characters moves, but if they do learn them later (after the Cannon character themselves has mastered it) that they should not be able to master it in a one set match...it will take them just as long if not longer because, don't forget, that all these moves were only able to be created in the first place because it is what each person specialized in. (i.e: Momo and his Super whatever whatever the title was smash...he specializes in smashes so of course he's going to be able to master it faster that someone who specializes in volleys.)

**8. (Thanks to Illusion110 for reminding me of something I forgot) **The female OC that joins the boys Tennis Club. This makes her extremely strong in Tennis AND it's violating Tennis rules while at the same time _mocking_ the girls Tennis Club.

**Fix:** If you insist on going this route it doesn't automatically make your OC a Sue. But it does give the impression of one...does she really have to be on the boy's team? I think as long as you give a good (very good) reason as to why she is on the boys team and not the girls then it will be ok...however I'd advice you not to do his because it is extremely overused and just comes across as a Sue story.

**9. (Again give thanks to Illusion110) **Your character IS a Sue when she has a relationship with more than two Cannon Characters! One is all right if it's a pairing say between Lilliana and Atobe but when you through Kirihara in there as the brother and Fuji as the childhood best friend...oh and we can't forget that Tezuka is the ex-boyfriend that she's always talking about and has the perfect best friend relationship with now...and the fact that Yukimura has a big crush on her and that was the real reason he got surgery, to be able to see her again.

**Fix:** Try to keep the relationships to a minimum guys!

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><p><strong>Types of Mary Sues (These were taken directly from Cursed Bunny's guide, she get all the credit.)<strong>

Perfect Sue (God Sue): She is incredibly beautiful, incredibly strong, and incredibly smart. No one is anywhere near comparable to her, and she is practically invincible! She always wins, nobody gets mad at her, and everybody loves her for her kindness. Even animals.

Common traits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Mixed-Up Sue: She's quiet, but is always yelling. She says mean things, but everybody forgives her anyways. She's the most sympathetic person the other characters have ever met, but she couldn't care less about a sobbing villain asking for forgiveness. She just doesn't make any sense.

Common traits: 2, 3

Angsty Sue (Pity Beggar Sue): She has never been happy before, or, if she has, she lost everything. Her world is dark and black. She often seeks comfort with her love-interest.

Common traits: 2, 3, 6, 8

Naughty Sue (Badass Sue): She's a rebel! She hates society and does everything she can to show it! She dresses "Hot-Topic" or "emo" style and has scars. She acts mean, but underneath it all, she has her reasons.

Common traits: 2, 6, 7

Anti-Sue: The opposite of a Perfect Sue. She's got nothing good going for her. She's not pretty, she's weak, and she's not very smart either. She can't do anything right. She's got a ton of phobias, and she needs help doing everything.

Common traits: 6, 8

Canon Sue/Canon Stu: The only non-OC Sue/Stu. This is when the author causes a canon character to become a Super Sue/Stu! The canon character gradually transforms into a Sue/Stu through the eyes of the OC and is the OC's love interest. Since most OC's are girls, the Canon Sue/Stu is most commonly male.

Common traits: 1, 2

Copy Sue: An almost perfect copy of a canon character that is often her love interest. If he has black hair, then so does she. If he has purple eyes, she does too. They even have the same interests and personalities!

Common traits: 2, 7

Plot-stealing Sue: George caused the evil villain to regret his actions? No, that was actually Alexandria May Raven Trinity! Jessica eloped with George? No, that was actually Alexandria May Raven Trinity! Andrew stopped Jessica from making a stupid decision? No, that was actually Alexandria May Raven Trinity! She is always in the spotlight, even stealing other character's roles to do so!

Common traits: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7

Victim Sue: The damsel in distress. She's super wimpy, and her love interest must always come and save her!

Common traits: 2, 3, 6

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><p><strong>Other Mary Sue Traits:<strong>

One Mary Sue trait would be giving your OC a food obsession, which leads her to eat an excessive amount with no real reason behind it. This is okay if it's for the purpose of humor.

If your OC can sing, cook, dance, do any type of art, play and instrument, is number one in her Karate class, the best writer around, an awesome photographer, (can fly), always looks her best without trying, and is the best female Tennis player around then you've got yourself a sue! Try to limit these things down to one or two…think about what you can do in that list and then count them up and see how many you can do…give your OC that limit.

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><p><strong><em>Heres part one, if I forgot anything or you have anything you'd like to add then just leave a review or message me and I'll add it in here<em>**.

**_I'll start working on the test now~_**

xP


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